User:Douglasnicol/Blackwood & Morton Kilmarnock

BMK (Blackwood & Morton Kilmarnock) was a Scottish based carpet company. The company was based in Kilmarnock. The offices of BMK are now demolished. They were located in West Shaw Street Kilmarnock and next door to Safeway.

BMK operated a number of sites throughout Kilmarnock.

The Burnside street factory covered a site encompassing West Shaw Street and Low Glencairn Street. The parts of this factory on Low Glencairn Street opened in 1955.

The carpets manufactured in Kilmarnock were internationally known for their quality and intricacy since the late 1800's. Many locations around the world chose to install BMK carpets. Famously, RMS Titanic was carpeted using carpets manufactured by Stoddard Carpets, the parent company and successor to BMK. Primarily due to a move by the UK market towards laminated and hard-wood flooring, but also partially due to a long decline in the industry in the area as well as cheaper, but noticeably less hard-wearing foreign competition, carpet-making finally ceased in Kilmarnock in early 2005.

Memorials of BMK
The site of the BMK factory and offices still remain empty. BMK Offices in West Shaw Street still has some bricks from the building. A few old machines were discovered a few weeks after the bulldozing.